Eye bobs

I stayed 5 days in the hospital, and Mom and Dad have been helping a ton since then. I took a break from oxygen, but decided that I still need it for getting around the house. This morning, I have to go have an eye procedure. Chalk it up to GVHD again. My "eye bobs" as my kids would call them are crazy dry and don't show any signs of improving. Both of the boys have baseball games tonight, and I'm hoping to get to see them play. Zane winds up to the tee about 10 times before hitting the ball. It is hilarious. It looks like he has a strategy as he looks around the field for placement. Cade really has the hang of coach-pitch, and has impressed me with his new skills. I was hoping that baseball would be eliminated as a favorite, but it looking like they are really having fun. I have to admit that they look adorable in their uniforms. Zane and Avi are playing in front of me on the floor. Strawberry Shortcake now works for Texas A&M, and Avi is trying to coach Zane in the proper placement of hairbows. Cade is on a field trip to see the National Champion Lady Bears. He is very excited. What a wonderful experience. I forgot to tell him that they are tall, because he has just seen them on tv. It will be fun to see his reaction. When Van's mom was helping us over the weekend, they all went to see a Baylor baseball game. The kids wore their uniforms, and they had a great time. Despite my lack of knowledge in college sports, it seems that my kiddos are getting an early education.

Rumor has it that I might get to go home tonight or tomorrow. It might be tomorrow because The Heart of Texas Oxygen Tank Store Outlet Mall might be closed already. I'm going back on regular meds, plus a few extras like a giant stainless steel tank and will check back with the doc on Monday. It is likely that this was just a pneumonia with "fluffy infiltrates" (said with a Spanish accent). I don't really feel any better since I came to the hospital, but my cough has disappeared, so that is progress. Mom and Dad are still here to help. So thankful for prayers and for a God who listens. Please continue to pray for my eyes and lungs. You can pray for my elbow and nose, too, if you want, although there's nothing wrong with them.

breve

As in Hee-Haw, I'm still a-pickin' and I'm still a-grinnin'. Grinning might be a little exaggerated...a lot exaggerated. I'm ready to be outta here, but some things just take time, and this is one of those beasts. I'm very happy to be here in Waco close to my family while we wait to figure out what kind of pneumonia is brewing. The lab tests were sent to California, so I'm hoping that my sweet cousin could swing by and use her charm to speed things up. It's actually the type of testing that has to sit on a petri dish, so I suppose we'll just have to wait.

In the meantime, I have been very encouraged by all the encouragers. One of my favorite notes was sound advise from one of Cade's classmates. I wish I could scan a copy to show his backwards letters written with blue and then green on top of the blue. "Get well son Msr. Wameire. try to breve harder. May by it will help." Precious boy. I'll do my best to "breve harder". Cute, cute.

Speaking of cute, Mom and Dad said that the boys got out of the bath a couple of nights ago and ran circles in the house trying to pop each other with a towel. I can't imagine them as teenagers! "They were as naked as jaybirds." Oh,and Mom saw a painted bunting in our yard! Oh, and there's a little bluebird on my shoulder!

Rough Day

The highlights of today included extreme thirst and various things being stuck up my nose. I think the worst is over and those Nazis will let me be. Totally kidding. I have great care and I am ?thankful? for modern medicine. I'm especially thankful for my local pcp who made me come here despite my protests and gave me a hug and promised to continue praying and my two docs here at the hospital. Such kind gentlemen and freaking smart and patient.

Had some fun emotional meltdowns that poor Van had to deal with. I almost lost it whenever I thought I was going to be transferred to Dallas. I'm quite comfortable here, thank you--where is that nice man that stuck the cotton swab up my nose? Bring him here. I love that guy. The thinking was that Dallas doesn't have to send out samples because they have a big lab plus they have the majority of my records. Everyone agreed, though that a little more wait time would be okay. Another meltdown was when I discovered that my steroid (that I was ever-so-slowly weaning from) was increased. Van says it is temporary, though.

Mom and Dad navigated Elementary school, parents day out, an oil change for my car, HEB and tball practice and brought the kids to see me. The kids were happy to push all the buttons to raise and lower my bed and for some reason were really impressed with the size of the shower. Such timid little creatures.

We've had so many offers for help and meals. We are truly blessed by the body of Christ. If I had to pick health or Jesus-like friends, I'd pick the latter. I'll take health, too, don't get me wrong and really make me pick.

I listened to John chapter one (read by Johnny Cash--the best) and liked the scripture "in Him was light, and that light was the life of men". I also listened to some Fernando Ortega given to me by friends. Encouraging. I also had just downloaded some Kidz Bop the other day, and it was fun.

Anyway,

"Tomorrow, tomorrow! I love ya, tomorrow! You're only a day....a.....way!"

Mr. Bossypants was right

So after a couple of weeks of coughing and shortness of breath, Van, Mr. Bossypants, makes me go the doctor. I was low on oxygen, so now I'm at the hospital with a bull-like ring of tubing in my nostrils, and guess what? It helps! Now, we're searching out the origin of the problem. All of the super scary stuff is ruled out, and they are going to scope me in the morning (Tue) to see what lies beneath. I've got a pneumonia on my right lower lobe- the lung, not the ear or any fatty parts of the cow in the old testament. Oh...that would be why it is sore--not a bruised rib from coughing...silly me. Van says I was stubborn, but really and truly I thought I was just being a wimp and feeling sorry for myself. I guess I had an excuse this time and maybe, just maybe should have gone to the clinic sooner.

What else? Oh, the boys dissected the boo-boo bunnies that I made them for Easter. (I know that bunnies have nothing to do with Jesus rising from the dead, but they are cute and springy!) They are now "Blankie" and "Winkie" and have had a lot more play than most washcloths. Winkie helped pick up toys the other day, and it was an amazing feat for a washcloth.

Good report

On Monday, I found out that my platelets are normal like a normal person-- no more (!) beside them. Also, I was switched from breathing treatments to an antibiotic for prevention of lung infection and taken off my most crazy expensive medication that prevents fungal infections. Both of those mean money in the bank--woo-hoo! My PA expects me to be off of meds in the fall, and my last bone marrow biopsy should be in April. Man, I'll miss those. :)

Go West, young Wehmeyers!

We have had a great week. It began with a date night to Bangkok Royale, possibly the tastiest place on earth, and pad Thai. On Saturday, we continued packing the plastic tubs that we had been working on the previous couple of weeks to prepare for our adventure. There was still a lot of work to be done! We made a spontaneous trip to Belton, dropped off our children at our beautiful friends’ house (spontaneously), and met a man to look at stained concrete for the new house who had his family waiting in the car. We did this because we like exhausting ourselves and others. Actually, we thought that we needed to make some decisions before the slab for the new house was poured. We really enjoyed eating dinner with our friends, and then we gathered the little Wehmeyers for Waco.

We strapped down the packed tubs in Van’s truck, and early, early Sunday we headed west. The kiddos were so excited, and they were troopers in a small space. We drove for eternity, had a picnic at a state park, drove by a meteor crater, and stopped at the long awaited Monahans Sandhills State Park. Upon arrival, my Zane literally fell tummy first from the truck into the sand and wallowed like a pig. It was hilarious. The kids were definitely in their element. Van provided a little round sled, and he and the boys zoomed down the dunes. Avi wore little sunglasses to keep the sand from blowing in her eyes and dug and dug. Cade wanted to be buried, and his siblings obliged. Little piggy wiggled around in the “comfy sand” and wore a grin the entire time. I didn’t think we were going to be able to get Zane back in the truck. For real. I made our second round of peanut butter sandwiches for the day, and we ate the gritty dinner while we loaded up. My eyes were especially irritated, but my heart was full.

We found windmills and oil pumps and javelina hogs and gorgeous mountain scenery. Zane began his strategy of how to catch a baby javelina to keep as a pet. We all had jobs to do. He was to jump on it, I was to hold the bag, Cade was to hold the head, etc. Cade had a billion questions that needed answers now!, and I had stories to tell about my family history in the area and everyone tolerated me. Even several hours into the trip, Van took the time to turn around to look at more road side hogs and fantasize with Zane about how to catch one. Zane decided that a baby javelina would need a diaper so it wouldn’t poop in the house.

We arrived at Fort Davis Motor Inn across from where Mom and Dad were staying. The kids went nuts being set free and were so excited and confused about staying at a motel. I let them bounce on the bed for awhile, unsure if it was a bad parenting moment. I scrubbed sand out of hair and ears and emptied shoes into the trashcan. Van brought in some of our boxes and took care of the kids so I could take care of me. A bath never felt so good. I still had sand in my teeth at that point. After a very short night, Mom and Dad showed us the way up to their new hideout. Their cabin shell had arrived just two days before (I’m still not sure how that thing went through the tight switchbacks-remarkable), and Van and Dad brought in things that could be used immediately and things that would be usable later like a refrigerator and hot water heater. Dad and Van worked and worked to move things, and Mom unloaded stuff and helped with kiddos. Oh, and Mom and I had a comedy of errors helping our men unload paneling and cabinets. The yard is filled with all sizes of rocks including a beautiful bald pointy boulder. The kids found a pick ax and shovel and plenty of dirt, and I appreciated the buena vistas. To the left was McDonald Observatory on Mount Locke, and to the right were the Cathedral Mountains.

We went out to a great little pizza shop, a big treat after eating out of our ice chest for awhile. We went to McDonald Observatory, but star party tickets were sold out. That was really okay because we were pooped at the end of the day and because I’m pretty sure we were rejected because of our A&M regalia. We zig-zagged back up the rocks in the four-wheel drive to the cabin where we retrieved flashlights and lit a candle and attempted to put our children to bed on a futon and a blow-up mattress. (Mom and Dad went to the hotel.) Avi was still up at 10:00, so we gave up on her and made our late night snack via Van’s backpacking stove. FINALLY we all settled down. After another short night, Avi ended up on my air mattress sawing logs while Van was in her “bed”. My little birds woke up bright and early—ready to go way before their parents were. The sunrise was beyond words. What a mighty God we serve. We skidded back down spotting mule deer along the way. The boys were impressed with the Fort Davis historic site army hospital’s surgery instruments, and the morning was lovely walking around the parade grounds. Van jogged from there- I’m not kidding—from there to Skyline Drive while I drove the kids to the state park to meet him. The distance wasn’t that long, but the altitude is high, and it is STEEP. I was impressed. That wasn’t enough, so we scooped out the rest of the PB&J and tackled a beautiful .8 mile hike together up and down Montezuma Quail Trail. Avi was reluctant at first, but caught on as her brothers plugged along. Cade got out of our sight range. We knew he still existed because people coming down the mountain told us he was up there. He is a little mountain goat. When we got everyone together again, Van and the kiddos bouldered, and I tried not to panic as my boys got near the edge. When the children got poked by cactus or fell, we just teased that we would take them back to the fort hospital with the 1800s medical tools, and they got over it quickly. From there we drove to the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center where we discovered not Chihuahuas, but instead which yuccas were which and that we had a very spent baby girl. “oh…she’ll be fine, she’ll fall asleep in the car….” Didn’t happen. Up, up the dusty mountain road we went. I “cooked” mac and cheese and some Tuna Helper, and Cade and I read to the bitties in hopes that the children would be more sleepy than their parents. The stars were amazing. Van went for a little hike, and THEY Did it! THEY Did fall asleep! We have the noisiest children on the planet. Three children snoring is impossible. Another short night was spent, and somehow my youngest woke up next to me again instead of my husband. I questioned her as to how she turned into Daddy during the night, but she offered no explanation.

Cold chocolate Pop Tarts, bottles of shelf-stable chocolate milk and instant oatmeal nourished my family for the morning. Turkeys and buck deer met us along the dusty road along with a ton of beautiful ocotillo cacti that I love. We stopped at Dad’s recommended Point of Rocks picnic area just a few minutes down the road for bouldering. Cade earned bragging rights after his daddy got stuck for a while, and he stood near the top and waited for his dear father. I made a request to visit the fort’s gift shop to catch a stuffed baby javalina, a deer and a bat-eared fox for our children. It was very generous of my husband to make the stop, and he busied the kids with 1800s baseball with another family while I shopped. It turned out that the other family was our dear friends from our Houston days with kiddos that were supposed to be babies but somehow were as big as our kids. A really neat “God thing” to run into such special people at a place that we didn’t originally plan to be. A really great surprise. We began the long drive towards Utopia, stopping at the Pecos River to bring out the potty chair and yet more nourishment—this time Chips Ahoy. I’m a great mom. We also made a stop in Del Rio to gas up. I went into the gas station and came back to a car with 3 children and no husband. He had started the gas pump and gone in as well. Kids were fine. Where’s daddy? Uh….he’ll be back soon. Sorry ‘bout that. (Ug. Scary.) Back on the road, we stopped at a check point and explained drug-sniffing dogs and illegal entry into the United States to our clueless children. What fun. Through Uvalde, the conversation jumped to why Texas has the death penalty, and Dora the Explorer on my computer was a welcomed relief. Thankfully, Dora did not prompt any more ethical issues.

Seeing the hills and wildflowers at the turn past Sabinal we all perked up knowing we were close to Grandmother and Papa’s house. They had arrived at midnight the night before and had already gone to the store an hour away to grocery shop. My sister and her kids were awaiting our arrival as well. We did very little since we’ve been here, and it has been great. Mom is a great cook—banana bread…..mmmmm, and we have pitched in here and there. The cousins have played and played, and we’ve had some much needed visiting. We had a bonfire in the yard (no burn ban right now) and made s’mores for…um….the kids.

Today is Friday, and our truck is mostly boxed up again. We plan to stop in Fredricksburg to pick up a couple of plants to fill in holes in our current flower bed to complete our Tour ‘o Texas. We’ll see if Van can resist the state parks along the way, or if we’ll just get home to unpack and crash. The foundation was poured on our new home this week, so we’re excited to see it.